Karuna Retreats

Man's development right up to the Stone-age was within keeping of the rest of his fellow animals.

The primary factors upon which his body learned to sustain its health where what we now call Exercise, Clean Air, Fresh Water and Raw Foods, but to him they would have been rudimentary.

We have managed to change almost all of these factors - much to our detriment. Cooking is only 10,000 years old, sendentary lifestyles didn't hit the masses until less than 100 years ago, and polution is new.

Even the 10,000 year period is infinitely small in evolutionary terms, and thus our bodies have been able to make almost NO SIGNIFICANT ADAPTATIONS to this new environment. Our body's only means of dealing with these new issues is to utilize the defense mechanisms that were designed to be used rarely, in extremesis.

Probable sequence is as follows:

1. There is evidence to suggest that we have been cooking foods for around 10,000 years, though it is greatly debated. Possibly 20,000 some "experts" say.

2. Addition of chemicals to drinking water has become a need of mankind only since our ability to transport large amounts of it long distances- since the industrial revolution. Chemicals were finally introduced around the 1930-40's, and continuous use of them has resulted in spoiled water resources worldwide.

3. The Industrial revolution greatly increased our ability to amass resources and live from unprecedented abundance, resulting in lethargy, which continues to progress.

4. Finally, since the explosion of petrol-burning machines (industrial and social), we are significantly and most rapidly, since the last 100 years, degrading the air.

Is it any wonder that we are suffering from more and more unpredictable chronic conditions, when we fail to address the fact that we have changed the basic premises of our biological life on Earth. This alone could be the root of all problems in our physiological, social and global situation. There is nothing more profound in our current situation than the phenomenal changes in circumstance that we have made, and what could be accomplished by reversing them.

Until the major governing bodies can act upon the above points, we are left with the option of maintaining our health as best we can in the face of these changes.

And this we can do, as individuals, as groups, as communities, and eventually as a race.

When you believe that only you hold the key to your own health, then miracles can truly be worked!

We can see already that our culture's faith in medical procedures is being eroded, by the endless stream of "alternative therapies" now available. But unless we are careful, our faith will simply be shifted from the "chemical" to more "natural" sources of suppressants. Whereas the simple profound truth is to understand that our bodies have all that they need to provide us with perfect health, if they are supplied with a good, varied diet of fresh ripe fruits and raw vegetables, and left to detoxify themselves when they need to, despite the feelings of discomfort and inconvenience that this may initially raise in us.

The steps leading to this point are just as simple, but need to be carefully followed. For example, too swift an entry into an all raw food diet can send the body into detox too quickly, the mind of the person will be filled with doubts, anxieties and cravings (as this is what is being eliminated from the system), and one will almost always discontinue the attempt, claiming that it is not "right for me". Patience, gradual changes and wisdom are required in the process of changing one's lifestyle.

Almost everything that we have been taught to eat is cooked and processed in numerous ways. In fact it is called "health food" if it contains ANY of the original nutrients by the time it gets to the shelf. Why don't we use the term "sickness food" for those which have been processed, refined, reconstituted, otherwise denatured, or even created in laboratories?